Saturday 2 April 2011 19.37 EDT
First published on Saturday 2 April 2011 19.37 EDT

It is certain that neither Leinster nor Leicester will have lingered for a second longer than it takes to utter a brief phrase of praise or consolation to their international players in the wake of what happened on the final Saturday of the Six Nations, when Ireland upset England's grand slam pretensions and there began a public inquiry into what this meant for victor and loser with regard to the World Cup. For in Dublin and at Welford Road province and club had to get on with the business of completing the remaining weeks of the season.

Leinster, for example, had to prepare for Saturday's meeting with Munster in the Magners League, a fixture that, even if there were only a bag of dog biscuits for a prize, would still demand the full concentration of its participants. The result: victory by a point for Munster. The rivalry among the provinces of Ireland is one reason why their rugby as a collective continues to prosper.

And the strength of Leicester is one big reason why England found themselves in a position to challenge for the grand slam in the first place. With Toby Flood scoring 22 points and Ben Youngs and Dan Cole also back in their club team, Leicester registered their biggest victory at Bath in 96 years a week after England lost to Ireland.

No, there has been no time to mope or gloat. On the other hand, there is something particularly delicious, given the events of 19 March, about Leinster and Leicester meeting in the quarter-final of the Heineken Cup on Saturday. Nobody can afford to look back because the near future presents us with Ireland-England supposedly in miniature but actually at a magnified level, such is the intensity of European competition in the knockout stages.

It happens also to be a repeat of the final of 2009, won 19-16 at Murrayfield by Leinster and refereed by Nigel Owens, who will take charge again. It is a game that reverberates with echoes of the recent past.

There's the obvious Anglo-Irish confrontations between the half-backs: Eoin Reddan and Johnny Sexton against Youngs and Flood. And the old against the new. What will the experience of Brian O'Driscoll and Gordon D'Arcy make of the singular presence of Manu Tuilagi? The Irish centres dealt with Matt Banahan of England but the youngest of the Tuilagi brothers of Leicester comes with devil in his directness.

And what of the props? The tight-head, having to absorb on his own put-in at the scrummage the pincer movement against him by the loose-head and hooker in the opposing front row, is as important as anyone on the field. Perhaps even more so in these paradoxical times of trying to speed up the set piece and yet reward the dominant scrum.

It will, therefore, be fascinating to see Cole against Cian Healy again, a rerun of the game to which they cannot refer, but which will not have been forgotten. Or will it be Martin Castrogiovanni, stoutness itself in the Six Nations for Italy, on the Leicester tight-head? And Stan Wright, back in action after injury, on Leinster's, instead of Mike Ross? Or maybe a mix of all five at some stage?

In the Leicester back row there is a formidable look to the combination of Tom Croft, Craig Newby and Thomas Waldrom, with a lot of New Zealand graft and forthrightness allied to the speed and leap of Croft. Leinster will no doubt retort that Jamie Heaslip and Sean O'Brien know a thing or two about going forward.

And there seems to be growing appreciation in Ireland for the work of Kevin McLaughlin. Rhys Ruddock and Shane Jennings could bring contrasting skills – one solid, one fluid – to the Leinster back row but McLaughlin may be the one to add potency to the line-out.

And who might win? A lot depends on what the medics have to deal with tomorrow, what remains in a pile on Monday after the wrecking ball of Saturday. A lot will depend on who is forced to remember what he would rather forget. Youngs is learning to live with being heavily marked and the word seems to be out that he is finding the curve steep.

It may hinge not on the performance of those from whom great things are always expected: O'Driscoll or Youngs. If the game is to swing on some stroke of the unexpected, it may well be a dash of Croft or an input from Isa Nacewa. The Leinster full-back, raised in Auckland and capped by Fiji, has made the loss of Rob Kearney bearable with his off-loads and angles.

But it looks very tight to call. Perhaps the only thing to do is to go back to the nearest point of reference, the game of 19 March, and say that Ireland now, unlike then, begin as favourites.